November 10, Thursday
"NANAKO!" he screamed. He woke up in a panicked sweat yet again. Just as he expected, his horrible dream returned yet again to haunt him.
"It's just a dream" he repeated to himself over and over again as he could feel a few tears attempting to form in his eyes. He got up out of bed and rushed straight down to the bathroom. He splashed some cold water on his face and began to take deep breaths, helping to bring himself back to reality. His body seemed to calm itself as he sighed in relief. It wasn't the most pleasant method of calming himself down, but it seemed to work just fine for now.
After all that, he now had to get ready for school. He would usually be tempted to go back to bed for a bit, but without the presence of a certain someone with him, it just wasn't the same. He hopped right into the shower and quickly washed himself off, going and putting on his school uniform right after.
He opened the fridge to look for something to have for breakfast. It was at this point he came to the realisation that he barely had any food left. He checked the cupboards too to find that it was the same story; barely anything. He made himself a sandwich for lunch and settled for an orange for breakfast, but he made mental note that he really needed to go shopping for food.
He gathered his things and made his way towards school. He spotted some of his friends chatting as soon as he entered the main building.
"Morning, everyone" he said.
"Hey, senpai" said Rise.
"Oh, hey senpai" said Kanji.
"Morning" said Chie. He could clearly notice something was bothering them by their glum looks.
"Any news on Nanako-chan?" asked Rise.
"No, unfortunately" he said. It was no surprise that they were all still so concerned about her. He wanted an update on Nanako just as much as they did, so he completely understood their concern.
"Oh… I'm so sorry for bringing it up, I know it must be way harder for you compared to us. I'm just so worried about her" Rise lamented.
"No, don't apologise, it's fine. We're all worried about her" he said to try and ease her concerns.
"She's a tough girl, she'll be alright" said Kanji.
"I really hope she's ok" said Chie.
"Me too" Yu said sadly.
A momentary silence fell over them, no one really knowing how to proceed.
"So uh… how are you, senpai?" Rise asked, finally breaking the silence.
"As good as I can be right now" he replied.
"Well that's good to hear!" Rise smiled. Her conversation skills came in handy at times like these, as her bright attitude seemed to inject them all with some much-needed positivity after starting with such a heavy topic.
"Yknow senpai, if you ain't feeling great you can always take some time off school" Kanji suggested.
"Kanji, the teachers always complain when you take a day off, I don't want senpai getting in trouble too" Rise said.
"Well that's just because they don't like me. Your teachers like you, right?"
"Stop encouraging him to ditch school! He'll get behind on school work again, and anyway if he's not there I won't have anyone to sit next to and I'll be bored out of my mind" Chie complained.
"I'll consider it Kanji, but I find being behind on school stressful. And besides, if I take time off, she'll complain about it when I come back" he chuckled pointing at Chie.
"You are the worst sometimes, Narukami" she said grumpily as they all laughed, making Chie crack up eventually too.
"By the way before I forget, thanks so much for the Tofu the other day, Rise. That stuff is absolutely amazing" Yu said. He'd forgotten to thank her yesterday, so he made sure to do it today.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it senpai! I was worried Yukiko took it all for herself when you didn't say anything about it."
"Yukiko-senpai went to go see you huh? I swear Chie said she would be busy all day at the inn" said Kanji in confusion.
"She just came to deliver me the Tofu and check in on me. That's all."
"Uh huh. Totally what happened" Chie said, giving him a suspicious look.
"Oh… that's really nice of her" Kanji replied, satisfied with the explanation.
"Hey, I'm the one who made the Tofu, not her!" Rise said in outrage, making Yu laugh. He was so glad that even during a dark time like this, he could still spend some time with his friends and have a good time.
They continued to chat until the bell eventually rung, forcing them all to go to class. As he walked in, he and Yukiko caught each other's eye. They both smiled and waved at each other. It was a shame he hadn't seen her earlier so they could talk, but he was happy to see her regardless.
"Yo dude, we still on for today?" he heard Yosuke whisper from behind as he sat down.
"Of course we are" said Yu.
"Hell yeah. Looking forward to it, partner."
…
After a long and boring day at school, they were finally free. Yu didn't even have time to finish packing his things before Yosuke came up to him.
"So, what do you wanna do?" Yosuke asked.
"I hope you don't mind, but I gotta get groceries or else I'm gonna starve tonight. We can do that and then hang out somewhere for a while" Yu said.
"Well hey, you came to the right guy if you need to shop at Junes!" Yosuke joked.
"Alright well, I'll be waiting outside for you so just meet me there when you're ready" said Yosuke before he went to leave their classroom. Yu would normally just go with him, but he had someone he wanted to talk to first. He approached Chie and Yukiko, who were chatting close by.
"Hey Yukiko? Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Yeah, of course. I'll be right back, Chie" she told Chie. They walked together out of their classroom.
"Roof?" he suggested, to which she nodded. They made their way up the stairs and eventually found themselves on the roof, which was nice and empty for now. She hugged him, and he hugged her back.
"Hey" said Yukiko.
"Hey" he smiled.
"How are you?" she asked
"I'm doing just fine right now. How about you?"
"I'm happy now that I've heard that. Are you free today? I was hoping we could spend some time together" she asked.
"I'm sorry, but I'm hanging out with Yosuke today. Does tonight work?"
"I'm busy tonight until Sunday" she said sadly. It was only a few days, but he knew it would feel way longer than that.
"Then let's do something on Sunday. We'll have the whole day too" he said, trying to cheer her up.
"I really hope so" she replied. It upset him to see her sad. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, making her jump a little in surprise, but quickly relax into his arms.
"You have to go now, don't you?"
"He's waiting for me right now, and I guess it'd be rude to leave him waiting too long" he said.
"You're right. He's not exactly the most patient person ever either" she said. Even though they both agreed he should probably go, they couldn't help but stay there a short while longer, enjoying the feeling of holding each other, something they wouldn't be able to do much for a while.
"Yu… Yosuke's gonna start wondering whether you ditched him."
"You're right, you're right. I better go, Yukiko. I'll see you tomorrow, ok?"
"See you tomorrow. Call me if you need anything. See you soon" she smiled. They gave each other another smile before he left to go meet Yosuke.
He made his way all the down to the ground floor and stepped outside. He spotted Yosuke standing off to the side listening to his music on his headphones. He took them off as he spotted Yu.
"Alright, you good to go, partner?" he asked.
"Yep, let's get going" Yu said as they embarked on their journey to Junes.
…
"So uh… you got a shopping list or something?" asked Yosuke as they could now see Junes in the distance.
"Nah man, I'm just gonna get whatever I feel like I need" Yu explained.
"Fair enough."
"I think it's mostly just gonna be instant noodles honestly."
"You really can't go wrong with instant noodles, can you?" said Yosuke.
"That's so true" Yu snickered in reply.
Eventually they made it to the large store. They entered and got themselves a shopping cart.
"Let's just go up all the aisles and see what they have" Yu suggested.
"Nah man trust me, some of these aisles are complete duds. Cmon, I'll show you where all the good food's at" Yosuke said.
He greatly appreciated the gesture as Yosuke took him all around the store to look at various things. While he was already semi-familiar with the store, Yosuke used his expertise to reveal hidden gems such as where all the best ice cream was. They picked out various foods of questionable nutritional value, mainly aiming for food that could be successfully prepared by a low skill chef such as himself.
They finally finished going through the store and made their way up to the registers. To Yu's surprise, Yosuke casually manned one of the empty registers and beckoned for him to come through and skip the lines. He did just that as they unloaded his stuff onto the conveyer belt to be scanned.
"The best thing about having my family own the store is that I can just buy whatever I want, whenever I want" he said as the items began to stack up. Yu reached into his wallet and began to pick out the total amount of money. He was taken aback yet again when Yosuke scanned his card again and the price slashed in half.
"Why did it go down in price?" Yu asked.
"I'm using my family/employee discount for you, man" Yosuke replied casually. Yu almost thought it was ridiculous that Yosuke wanted to do this for him. His family deserved to be paid fully for the goods they provided him, so there was no good reason for Yosuke to give him a discount.
"I don't want you getting in trouble or anything…"
"Nah, my parents won't mind… hopefully. If not they'll just take it out of my paycheck" Yosuke laughed nervously.
"See, I don't want to get you in trouble. I'm not a charity case Yosuke, I don't need your money" Yu said sternly.
"Yu, I'm just tryna help. I hate the idea of you having to work just to help pay your families bills while they're in the hospital. Please, just let me do this small thing for you. Let me help you" Yosuke insisted.
Yosuke was right. He was the one who had been telling Yosuke and all his friends that he wanted to accept their help and be supported by them, and yet as soon as someone tried to give him anything more than a tiny bit of help he instantly rejected it. Yosuke was such a kind and caring soul, and the fact he was willing to potentially sacrifice some of his own money for Yu meant so much to him.
"I… are you sure Yosuke? I really don't want to be a bother…"
"Yes I'm sure! Don't sound so guilty, I'm offering this to you, so it's not a bother to me."
"No, you're right. I'm sorry, Yosuke. I… thank you so much. I really appreciate it, from the bottom of my heart" Yu said.
"Don't mention it. We gotta take care of each other in whatever ways we can. You always help me when you can and it just so happens this is one of the ways I can help you" said Yosuke.
"Thank you Yosuke."
Yu paid for his items and Yosuke bagged them all up for him.
"Thank you for shopping at Junes, have a lovely day!" Yosuke said in his employee tone, making Yu huff in amusement.
The walk home was quite a short one for them. Before they knew it they were right outside Yu's place just like yesterday. Yu opened the door and invited Yosuke in as they put the shopping bags down.
"Where do you want to put all this stuff?" Yosuke asked.
"I'll show you where I want them" Yu said as he began to put away the products that needed to be frozen. They spent the next few minutes sorting out Yu's shopping, Yu instructing Yosuke where to put everything in his small kitchen. Luckily he hadn't purchased too much, so it was finished quickly.
"Thanks for all the help" said Yu.
"You're welcome. Now that we've got that done, we can finally go do something more fun."
"You wanna just go hang out at the riverbank? The weather's pretty nice outside so it should be perfect" Yu suggested.
"I love that place. Let's go!" Yosuke smiled.
They made their way to the riverbank. They were the only people there as they stood near the river in front of them. They took in the nice view of the countryside that appeared to span far beyond Inaba. The river gently flowed as they stood and took in the peaceful environment they found themselves in.
"I can't believe the last time we were here we had a fight" Yu chuckled.
"I like to think of it as a friendly brawl that helped bring two friends closer" Yosuke said.
"Maybe that's why we're best friends; I haven't fought any of the others" Yu said.
"Wait… I'm your best friend?" Yosuke asked.
"Are you kidding me?! Of course you are! Why would you ever think you weren't?!" Yu said in surprise.
"I don't know man… I guess last time I thought I was close with someone, I really wasn't."
That was sad to hear. This whole time he didn't think Yu considered him his best friend, when in reality it had pretty much been the case since they met.
"Yosuke, you are my best friend. I will always have your back, and I know that you'll always have mine. If I have to remind you everyday, I will."
"That's… that's nice to hear from you. You're my best friend too, but I think you already knew that" Yosuke replied.
"You remind me every five seconds" Yu smiled.
"Yknow… This might sound really lame, but I've never had a best friend before, so this is pretty cool for me."
"Me too, actually."
"You've never had a best friend?! Everybody seems to gravitate towards you, so I'm surprised."
"I wasn't very popular up in the city, Yosuke. You know more than anyone that school there is completely different to school here."
"Well that's true. I wasn't exactly the most popular kid either" Yosuke sighed.
"You keep in contact with anyone from the city?" Yu asked.
"Nah, dude. I've been gone a while, so those friendships have fizzled out now. You?"
"Same. It seems weird to say now, but I didn't actually have any real friends up there. Just some people I hung out with for the sake of company that I didn't know at all. As soon as I got here, I never bothered to keep in contact and neither did they" he explained.
"Well that doesn't matter anymore, because now we have all of our friends in Inaba, and we have each other" Yosuke grinned.
"What are you smiling about?" Yu asked.
"I'm just… I'm just really glad to know that you're no longer hiding your feelings. I did that a lot with my feelings about Saki-senpai, and that just made me feel worse. I've never heard you speak so openly before, and it's really awesome to see" said Yosuke.
"Well it's all because of you and everyone else. I know you won't judge me and understand what I'm going through to a certain degree, so I feel comfortable expressing that to you guys."
"We just wanna help our friend. And anyway, we can't let anything happen to our leader. We'd be in trouble without you" Yosuke joked.
"Nah, that's not true. You guys would be fine without me" Yu said.
"No way man! We'd be screwed! Who the hell else would be our leader?!"
"You, obviously."
"I'm not a good leader! That's you!"
"You're an amazing leader. You may not be our official 'leader', but in many situations you're the one leading the group."
"Like when?" Yosuke asked.
"You know me, I'm a strong and silent leader. When our group needs the extra words, you're the guy always there backing us up and getting everyone motivated. I'll be honest, I was thinking of leaving you in charge of the team and leaving because I felt like I let you guys down. I felt comfortable considering that because I was so confident you would be a good leader for everyone. You gotta give yourself more credit, you do so much for our team even if you don't realise it. You're the best second in command I could ask for" Yu said.
"Wow… thanks, partner. I really appreciate it. And as your second in command, I'm gonna make sure I do everything I can to help us solve this case" declared Yosuke.
They decided to take a seat on the grass so their legs wouldn't get tired. They continued to make small talk and joke around with each other for what felt like hours. Even though they hadn't done this in a few months, it felt like they only just did it yesterday.
"Hey, can I ask a question?" said Yosuke out of the blue.
"Sure."
"Listen I don't wanna be nosy but… you and Yukiko… is there something going on we don't know about?"
Yu was taken aback that Yosuke had noticed something weird between them. He thought they were being more subtle, but perhaps his assessment was incorrect.
"What makes you say that?" asked Yu, genuinely curious what brought him to that conclusion.
"Well I know Yukiko went to go see you on Monday. Then you both took Tuesday off. Then at school, I noticed you two were smiling at each other a lot... plus you snuck off to chat yesterday for no reason."
Yu tried his best to look composed so he could deny Yosuke's claims, but Yosuke started to laugh at him.
"There is totally something going on, I can tell by your face" Yosuke laughed.
"If I tell you, will you promise not to tell anyone? This stays between you and me and no one else, not even her" he asked.
"On my life, I won't tell anyone."
"Well… we're not a couple, but I feel like we're definitely beyond the point of being friends. That's all I can say for now" Yu said.
"No way… are you about to beat the Amagi challenge?" Yosuke teased.
"It's… it's complicated, Yosuke."
"Well have you told each other how you feel?"
"No."
"Have you gone on a date?"
"No."
"Then go ask her out! I think you're probably the only guy apart from Kanji at this school who hasn't yet" Yosuke said. Asking her out? It would be an incredibly bold move, but one he should consider…
"We'll see" Yu replied.
"Listen, I just wanna see my friends happy. I'm sure you know way more about girls than I do, so you do whatever you need to."
"You're definitely right about that" Yu joked.
"Hey! I'm still good with women! I've just been… unlucky so far is all!" Yosuke shot back, making Yu laugh.
The day rolled on and the sun started to set, creating a beautiful orange colour in the sky.
"Have you heard any updates on Nanako?" Yosuke asked.
"No" replied Yu.
"I'm sorry man" Yosuke sighed. Being reminded of Nanako, a burning question entered his head that he wanted to know.
"Hey Yosuke?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I ask you something really personal? You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
"What is it?"
"I uh… what was it like losing someone so close to you? I can't imagine what it'd be like" Yu asked. Yosuke took a long pause, contemplating the question.
"When I lost Saki-senpai, it was probably the worst thing that's ever happened to me. I just couldn't believe she was really dead and gone forever. I've never really talked to anyone about this, but I really went through a dark period for a while there. I was so angry and sad and I had so many regrets. It was the most painful experience I've ever gone through and… I really don't want you to have to go through that either."
A dark silence hung over them. Yu was horrified at the difficulties Yosuke had gone through. He knew the death of Saki-senpai had greatly affected Yosuke, but he didn't realise it was so bad. He managed to maintain his composure so well around everyone through all of that, only cracking a few times once he and Yu were finally close enough for Yosuke to confide in him. It made him so relieved that he and Yosuke became friends and eventually developed such a tight knit friend group, because he didn't want to think how lonely and sad Yosuke would have been without any friends during such a difficult time.
"You're so strong for getting through all that, you know that?" said Yu.
"Yeah… I think I'm just lucky I started to make friends around that time, or else I would have been absolutely miserable without anything to distract myself with."
"Yeah, I understand the feeling" Yu replied.
"And that's what I hate about all this. The reason I came to help the team in the first place is because I didn't want anyone else to experience the pain and grief me and those close to Saki-senpai did. But now you're in nearly that exact situation" Yosuke said.
"It's not your fault. People keep telling me it's not my fault either. I'm just trying my best to stay positive, but it's so hard knowing she could be gone at any moment. I just… I'm so scared for her. She doesn't deserve any of this" Yu confessed.
"I just want you to know that if the unthinkable does happen, I'll be here. I understand what it's like to lose someone close to you. I know how painful it is. It's probably not a comforting thing to think about right now, but I will do anything I possibly can to help you through that if it does happen. I can promise you that, Narukami."
"Thank you, Yosuke. I couldn't ask for a better best friend" he said.
"Now bring it in" Yosuke smiled as he hugged Yu.
"I thought you said hugs were for girls."
"I was wrong… hugs are for the people we care about" Yosuke said. It was nice to know that Yosuke was so loyal and supportive, and that there was someone out there who understood how he felt right now. Being able to discuss feelings and express thoughts freely felt so much better than just keeping them to himself, and he could honestly say it was helping him to cope with the scary situation he was in. Is this what it felt like to have a best friend?
"So… you wanna just sit here for a while?" Yosuke asked as they withdraw from the hug.
"Let's just sit here until either Teddie comes to pick you up or you get an angry phone call from your parents telling you to come home."
"Sounds good to me, partner."
…
"So… you gonna tell me what actually happened?" asked Chie.
"What do you mean?" responded Yukiko.
"With you and Yu… like as in you and Narukami" she clarified.
"Oh! Well uh… nothing too much happened…"
"Cmooooon Yukiko! I covered for you so you could stay with him, I deserve to know what happened!" Chie said. While Yukiko didn't agree she was entitled to any information, it was true she'd been a good friend and covered for her. Chie had told all their friends that Yukiko had to go work at the busy inn, which was a flat out lie. As a matter of fact, they got little to no business around this time.
"It's really complicated. A lot happened and… a lot of it was personal" she said shyly.
"That's alright, I can get the details from him. I just wanna ask you one question."
"Yes?"
"Are you two, like… yknow?" Chie asked.
"Wh- what? N-no! Why would y-you think that?!" she said, flustered by the question.
"Well I mean, he seems to be way more comfortable opening up to you than any of us, and you seemed really concerned about him. Not to mention you two seem to spend a lot of time 'talking alone' at school. That kinda implies you guys have a thing for each other" Chie explained.
"It's complicated, Chie" she said.
"No way! You totally like him and he totally likes you, I can see it" Chie teased as Yukiko tried to think of a rebuttal, but couldn't.
"You don't know what he's thinking! Just don't tell anyone about any of thiss, ok?!"
"Don't worry, I won't" said Chie.
Yukiko thought she was safe for now. Unfortunately, Chie had other plans…
…
After a long evening spending time with Yosuke, Yu finally returned to his home to have some dinner way later than he probably should. As he ate, his phone began to buzz. He picked it up to find that Chie was calling him.
"Yo. How's it going, Yu?"
"Hey, Chie. I'm doing alright, how about you?"
"I'm alright. Watcha up to?" she asked.
"I'm just eating dinner right now. I stayed out late with Yosuke so I nearly forgot to eat."
"Well at least you're eating now I guess. Speaking of food, are you doing anything tomorrow? Wanna go eat at Aiya's or something?"
"That sounds like fun, let's do it" replied Yu, who was glad he now had something to do tomorrow.
"Cool! We have lots to talk about" she said.
"We do? Sure, why not" said Yu in confusion.
"Alright well I'll let you go eat the rest of your food now. I'll see ya tomorrow, yeah?"
"See you tomorrow Chie."
She was being a bit mysterious about what they had to discuss, but he was looking forward to catching up with her. She was a really fun and energetic person, and at a time like this he could really use some positive energy in his life to help him get through such a difficult time.
He eventually finished eating and went and did his homework, leaving him tired and ready for bed. He checked his phone to make sure he didn't have any updates from Adachi, but as expected nothing was there. As soon as he began to slip back into worrying for Nanako, he knew he had to get himself straight into bed or else he could run the risk of a restless night.
He forced himself to think about the nice day he had. He got to spend the whole afternoon with his best friend. Even with all the insane things they had seen and done over the past half year, just sitting and talking by the river was one of the memories with him he would treasure most. He finally had a best friend after all these years, and that fact was enough to put a smile on his face as he managed to finally rest.